Thursday, March 13, 2008

I had to make a quick jaunt partway through the day to test my "alternate workspace" for business continuity today. You know, in case power gets knocked out in my building or any other emergency somehow makes my current workspace even more uninhabitable than it is now. At this point, I think a fire or an Anthrax outbreak pales in comparison to getting the occasional ear-full of celebrity gossip, political banter and what have you while enduring temperatures in the upper 70s. But apparently the business continuity planners don't see it my way.

So I rode to a nearby branch, where training is usually performed. Various cow-orkers of mine and a few others whom I didn't know commandeered an entire classroom and made a makeshift battle center out of it. We checked to make sure we could access all of our stuff, and that all of the programs we needed were installed. Then, we proved we could work in that environment by printing, accessing our e-mail and actually doing some work tasks. That part was a breeze since there was only one gossiper present in our new office away from office. Without others to gossip with, I could hear myself think. And the Air Conditioning is actually functional in this building. Radical.

I had more madness to partake in this evening, so had to rush home on the A bus. I was in full-on sprint mode once I got off the bus. Some punk kid in a rusty old Taurus was riding my ass from Shawnee Mission West High School all the way to Switzer (I don't know, about a mile, I guess). Approaching the 4-way stop, he rolled his window down and pulled up next to me. Panting and probably rolling my eyes, I figured this kid was going to tell me to get off the road or some such. I was going at least 30 in a 25 MPH section of 85th. To my surprise, he exclaimed "You were going 35 back there! Awesome!" Between huge gulps of air, I managed to ask "That's IT?!" and then thanked him after another gasp. He took off. I took off behind him, again approaching 30 MPH or so. He was long gone, but I was still hurried.

I darted through the BP lot and out onto 87th street. This road is a death trap for cyclists, but I was scooting at a good clip and the outer lane was clear so I went for it. Most of the lights played in my favor. I pulled the hardest, fastest corner I've ever tried as I veered right onto Earnshaw from 87th to get to my apartment complex. I was crouched in the drops, probably going 20 MPH as I leaned past 45 degrees. I was pretty sure I was going to end up sliding sideways and buying some new handlebar tape but The Twelve stuck. I don't think I will try a corner like that again any time soon. A small patch of sand would have ruined my day.

Of course, now I'm paying for it with an asthma attack. But that'll pass. The only times it really bothers me are balls-to-the-wall jaunts like this afternoon's, or really cold, dry air. I think part of this is just my lungs adjusting again and coming out of my relative lethargy for winter. As I recall, there were plenty of other days last year where I felt like I was in pretty good shape except for my lungs.

Does anyone else here suffer from Exercise Induced Asthma or know someone that does? What are you currently doing for treatment?

4 comments:

doing research, I also found that it's a very common thing. I want to say something mind-blowing like 20% of elite athletes have it. I know that my Monday night ride leader has it, and says Mucinex helps. He's also a bike racer. I don't know anyone else who readily admits to having it, though.

I took a brief lunchtime ride yesterday but I was hammering it most of the time. It felt good to get out there and really let loose, although our roads are pretty sandy so I had to keep things in check. Still, I rode harder than I had in quite a while, and it felt great. I made the most of the short ride, that's for sure.

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